Marilou Ruth Donart Miller, age 93, our beloved mother and grandmother went to be with the Lord on January 27, 2024, at her home that she shared with her son’s family in Osceola, Indiana.
Ruth was born on August 26, 1930, in Portland, Oregon to Charles Franklin & Maude Faye Sheffield Donart. Her family moved to Cambridge, Idaho, and that is where she grew up.
She left high school in 1947, a year early, to attend Multnomah School of the Bible in Portland, Oregon. The summer following her graduation in 1950, her brother, Jack, died of polio. Devastated by the loss of her brother, she decided to delay going to college. During her gap year, she did child evangelism in Ontario, Oregon and held several regular Bible studies for teens in and around Cambridge, Idaho.
In the fall of 1951, she enrolled at the University of Washington in Seattle. She graduated in 1955 with a degree in English and Education and was the salutatorian of her class. She worked in Sequim, Washington for two years, then returned to the University of Washington and earned a master’s degree in Librarianship in 1958.
During the next year she worked in Heidelberg Germany on the US Army base as the high school librarian.
On August 21, 1959, she married Fred Edward Miller in Council, Idaho. They lived in Pasco, Washington for three years before moving to Kennewick, Washington in 1962. She worked as a high school English teacher for one year in the Richland School District and three years as a librarian at Columbia Basin College in Pasco.
She stopped working outside the home with the birth of her son and started working with her husband in his Simplified Business Service tax franchise. They worked together for 39 years.
Fred and Ruth held weekly Bible studies in their home for 28 years. Ruth wrote many letters, had phone conversations, and had personal visits with many people helping them understand that one’s acceptance with God was based entirely on Christ’s perfect earthly obedience to God’s Law, both in Christ’s life and death for them.
After the death of her husband in 2015, she moved to Osceola, Indiana to live with her son and his family.
She was fiercely independent and felt that there was always room for improvement. She pushed herself to understand anything that was set before her - the gospel, taxes, health, and the interests of her son and her grandchildren. Ruth had a great sense of humor, she loved puns, word jokes, and laughing at funny situations. She enjoyed flowers and beautiful vistas.
Ruth is survived by her son, Thurston (Bonnie) and their four children, Salinda, Koert, Finley, and Reed of Osceola, Indiana. She is also survived by one sister, Sarah Cooper of Bothell, Washington and by numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her mother and father, her husband, two sisters, Lucille Clouse and Carolyn Wilkerson, and a brother, Jack.
She will be missed.
A memorial service will be held at McCoy Memorial Baptist Church (134 St Clair Ave, Elkhart, IN) at 3:00 p.m. (EST) on February 10, 2024.
The memorial service will be live streamed via Facebook. Go to the Facebook page for www.facebook.com/McCoyMemorialBaptistChurch. For those not on Facebook, then the service, after several days, will appear on www.youtube.com/@mccoymemorialbaptistchurch6268.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Miles McKee Ministries, 1036 Ridgecrest Dr., Dickson, TN 37055.